Camille Esneau

Dr. Camille Esneau is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Newcastle in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, working within A/Prof Nathan Bartlett's research team. She also holds an adjunct associate lecturer position at the Kirby Institute (University of New South Wales, Sydney). Her primary research focus is on respiratory virus diversity and host-pathogen interactions, with the goal of understanding how viral diversity relates to severe respiratory illnesses to develop better antiviral therapies.

Her educational background includes a PhD from the University of Newcastle, a Master of Science, and a Bachelor of Science from Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University in France. She is fluent in both French (her mother tongue) and English.

Dr. Esneau's research expertise centers on virology, with particular emphasis on respiratory viruses, host-pathogen interactions, and innate immunity. She has extensive experience working with human pathogenic viruses including SARS-CoV-2 (classified as a biosafety level 3 pathogen), utilizing sophisticated culture models of human airway epithelial cells grown at air-liquid interface to reconstitute the structure of human airway epithelium. Her work combines molecular methods for virus detection with advanced cell culture techniques to investigate viral pathogenesis.

Her publication record demonstrates a strong focus on respiratory viruses, particularly rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. Her research spans viral structure, replication, classification, diversity, and virulence factors, with recent work expanding to SARS-CoV-2 variant surveillance and antiviral development. Her studies often involve interdisciplinary collaboration across virology, immunology, and respiratory medicine.

Dr. Esneau has contributed to significant research efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, including variant surveillance, characterization of immune responses, and development of therapeutic approaches. Her work has appeared in high-impact journals including Nature Microbiology, Science Translational Medicine, and EBioMedicine.

She currently serves as co-supervisor for a PhD student researching arbovirus surveillance in the Hunter region and was the lead investigator on a 2023 University of Newcastle pilot grant titled 'Improving arbovirus surveillance in the Hunter region through the development of PCR based assay to survey mosquito species and arboviruses.'